Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Thursday, October 15 is Blog Action Day, an initiative powered by Change.org to bring to light the need to change our ways and change our ways now. Specifically, the initiative means to inform about Global Warming and encourage all to do all possible to change so that there is an 'us' in years to come.

As a Vegan and a Vegan blogger, I would like to focus on the effects that adopting a vegan diet has directly on the environment and ultimately on slowing down and even stopping Global Warming.

By more and more of the world moving away from a meat diet and towards a vegan diet, essentially factory farming and livestock farming in general will be greatly reduced and hopefully eventually eliminated. Raising livestock has been proven to be the primary cause of land degradation, air pollution, water shortage, water pollution, loss of biodiversity and with all these factors put together Global Warming is the ultimate result.

Here are some facts as to why damage at this magnitude is done by simply raising livestock for food:

10x the amount of crops are needed to feed these animals that are meant to feed humans than if the crops went directly into the mouths of men, women and children.

livestock agriculture takes up 70% of all agricultural land and 30% of the total land surface of the earth.

70% of the former Amazon rainforest is used as pastureland with the rest used to crow crops to feed these animals.

methane and nitrous oxide are responsible for 1/3 of the warming since the beginning of the industrial revolution - gases that primarily come from the digestive processes of farm animals.

animal agriculture is responsible for 9% of carbon dioxide emissions, 37% of methane emissions and 65% of nitrous oxide emissions.

meat consumption has increased 5 fold in the past 50 years.

livestock agriculture emits 2/3's of the acid rain causing ammonia.

5 million tons of manure are produced every single day in the U.S. - ultimately, this oozes into the water system, polluting drinking water and killing sensitive aquatic ecosystems.

livestock agriculture is responsible for 19% of the USA's overall energy consumption.

It's like we're paying a dollar for 4 nickels because we like the shiny colour of the coin and we have a thing for the picture that is minted on it. Sooner than later, we're going to run out of dollars. I know that I'm preaching to the converted on this blog but every angle you look at it, there is no place for the consumption of meat on this planet. There is simply no logical reason to eat the flesh of another living being. It is environmentally, economically, morally, spiritually wrong and it is nothing but a death excelerant where human health is concerned.

By adopting a vegan diet, you help to eliminate the effects of livestock farming. The more you subject others to your uncompromising resolve, the more others will see the positive effects and the more you will influence others to learn the facts and change their ways.